1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic air-conditioning system which performs automatic control to provide a comfortable air-conditioned environment within the passenger compartment of a vehicle, and more particularly to an automotive air-conditioning system that can enhance occupant comfort by reducing the effects of pollen on the occupants.
2. Prior Art
In recent years, the demand for air-conditioned comfort has been growing, and along with this, the need to protect occupant health, especially, the need to remove pollen, has been increasing. As a system to meet such a need, an automotive air-conditioning system has been proposed that has a pollen removal filter which is installed only in an outside-air inlet duct so that outside air free from pollen is supplied into the passenger compartment (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H08-310230).
With the above prior art, however, it is not possible to remove pollen drawn in through a vehicle door when a passenger opens the door to get into the vehicle, nor is it possible to remove pollen adhering to the face, hair, or clothes of the occupant who has gotten into the vehicle. In view of this, the present applicant has proposed an invention for preventing such drawn-in pollen or occupant-borne pollen from floating near the face of the occupant, by effecting pollen mode control for reducing the effects of pollen on the occupant (Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-125447).
The pollen mode control is effected by setting the inside/outside air inlet to an inside-air introduction mode, the air outlet to a face mode, and the blower level to a medium level, and in this condition, pollen is collected by the filter installed in the air-conditioning unit and the air purified by removing the pollen is blown toward the face of the occupant in the passenger compartment.
However, since the above prior art pollen mode control is effected by setting the air outlet to the face mode, and the control is performed based on actuator control, which is different from the control performed based on thermal environment sensing as practiced in conventional automatic air-conditioning control, there has been the problem that the control may impair the thermal comfort for the occupants, depending on the thermal environment where the pollen mode control is performed.